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Actual and ideal instructional practices in California high school gifted geometry education

ACTUAL AND IDEAL INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA
HIGH SCHOOL GIFTED GEOMETRY EDUCATION
by
Edit Tanahan
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2006
Copyright 2006 Edit Tanahan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between the frequencies of teachers' instructional practices with gifted and with typical learners under actual and ideal instructional circumstances. One hundred seventy California high school geometry teachers completed a 12-item survey developed by the researcher. The Mann Whitney U/Wilcoxon Matched Pairs test, with a p value less than .05, was used to reveal any significant differences between teachers' responses about instruction for gifted and typical students. Subjects responded with their 1) actual frequency of practices with typical learners vs. gifted learners, 2) ideal frequency of practices with typical learners vs. gifted learners, 3) actual frequency of practices vs. the ideal frequency of practices with typical learners, and 4) actual frequency of practices vs. the ideal frequency of practices with gifted learners. In actual instruction, there were no significant differences between eight of the twelve instructional practices for typical and gifted learners. This implies that minimal differentiation of instruction occurs for gifted learners in the regular geometry classroom. Therefore, gifted learners receive much the same exposure to subject matter as do their typical counterparts. In ideal classroom practices as perceived by the teachers there were no significant differences between the frequencies of only four of the twelve instructional practices for typical and gifted learners. Those four instructional approaches include student note-taking during a lecture, students' memorization of theorems and postulates, cooperative group work, and the use of visual media to teach geometry. Ideally teachers would double the amount of differentiation in instruction for gifted learners and typical learners. Teachers would incorporate practices more frequently that foster conceptualization and less frequently use those practices featuring memorization and drill. The increased frequencies; The increased frequencies stated for instructional practices for gifted learners in ideal educationalsettings implies that teachers understand that instruction should be differentiated for gifted learners, but that in actuality, teachers do not significantly differentiate instruction between typical and gifted learners in high school geometry.

ACTUAL AND IDEAL INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA
HIGH SCHOOL GIFTED GEOMETRY EDUCATION
by
Edit Tanahan
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2006
Copyright 2006 Edit Tanahan